Replaceable sleeve for rotary drill swivel



Jan. 27, 1970 T. J. HOLLAND REPLACEABLE SLEEVE FOR ROTARY DRILL SWIVELFiled Nov. 14, 1968 United States Patent 3,492,025 REPLACEABLE SLEEVEFOR ROTARY DRILL SWIVEL Thomas J. Holland, RED. 1, E. Bare Hill Road,Harvard, Mass. 01451 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No.601,165, Dec. 12, 1966. This application Nov. 14, 1968, Ser. No.

Int. Cl. F161 55/18 US. Cl. 28516 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Anew type of swivel is described for a rotary drill used for test boringsand in drilling for water or oil. The swivel includes an easilyreplaceable wearing sleeve supported on the drill pipe section bytubular plugs which conduct fluid from an exterior supply into the pipe.

This invention relates to a drill for boring a hole into the earth, asfor example, to drill a deep hole for making a test boring or findingwater or oil. In particular, this invention relates to a high speedrotary drill wherein drilling fluids are pumped into the drilling pipethrough a swivel.

CROSS REFERENCE This application is a continuation-in-part ofapplication Ser. No. 601,165 filed Dec. 12, 1966, and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION High speed rotary drills have been widely usedwherein the drililng pipe (a hollow shaft) is connected by a swivel to asupply of drilling fluid under pressure. Because of the great forces,abrasive contaminants in the fluids, and high speeds, the pipe sectionincorporating the swivel undergoes rapid deterioration and must befrequently replaced, resulting in great expense and consumption of time.

One object of this invention is to provide a rotary drill swivel capableof being operated at high speed with high pressure abrasive slurries. Afurther object of this invention is to provide such a swivel having aneasily replaceable wearing portion.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be aparent from thespecification and claims which follow, taken together with the drawings.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The invention comprises in its most general sense adrilling pipe section surrounded by a co-axial wearing sleeve suportedon the pipe section by tubular plugs which seat in orifices in the pipeand thread into orifices in the sleeve. The pipe section and sleeve arerotatable as a unit. Surrounding the pipe sleeve is a fixed, co-axialouter member having an orifice connecting an exterior supply of drillingfluid with the pipe sleeve orifices. Sealing is provided, preferably byperforated end caps threading onto the outer member and packing. Thepacking can be replaced at intervals as required. When the abrasives inthe fluids have worn the sleeve so that repacking will no longer providean adequate seal, the sleeve can then be replaced separately. It isnecessary only to unscrew the end caps and replace the sleeve, and freshpacking, instead of replacing the entire assembly as done in priordevices.

3,492,025 Patented Jan. 27, 1970 ice The surface on which the packingrides is not commonly hardened in prior art devices. This is because thehardening process often causes distortion in the finished piece. Thesleeve of the present invention can be hardened because its geometry isnot complete and because the final operation of grinding can be doneafter hardening and the effects of distortion are minimized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS SPECIFIC EXAMPLE OF INVENTION Referringnow to the drawings, the drilling pipe or hollow driving shaft 10 has awall 12 and an inner hole space 11. Three tapered openings 12a areprovided in the wall 12 to permit seating of the registering portions oftubular tapered plugs 30, 36 and 37. The plugs are themr' selvessupported by being threaded intO threaded orifices 21a, b and c in thewall 21 of the hollow cylindrical coaxial wearing sleeve 20. Each plughas a threaded portion 34 and a tapered portion 35 to engage the orificeof wall 21 and seating in the tapered orifice of wall 12. Each plug hasears 33 for engagement of a tool, and a hollow tubular space 32. Afterthe plugs are seated and threaded they are aligned with the co-axialchamber formed by co-axial member 55 spaced within the fixed co-axialouter shell 50 and has an opening connecting to the fluid inlet pipe 56.A hose, not illustrated, connects inlet pipe 56 to a pump and supply ofdrilling fluid, as for example, abrasive drilling mud or slurry at 300'The shaft 10 and sleeve 21, being held together by the threaded taperedplugs 30, 36 and 37 are rotatable as a unit within the outer shell 50.Packing means 51 (52) provided between sleeve 21 and shell 50 is held inposition by perforated end cap 40 (41) threaded onto the end of shell 50in conjunction with annular steel compression ring 42, bearing assembly44, and annular steel compression ring 53 (54).

I claim:

1. The unitary, rotatable combination adapted for use as a rotary drillswivel and comprising:

(a) a drilling pipe member having at least one lateral orifice; saidorifice being defined by wall portions of said pipe member;

(b) a tubular, open-end member having a registering portion seatedagainst the wall portions defining said pipe member orifice and havingan outer portion with external threads;

(c) a replaceable co-axial wearing sleeve surrounding a portion of saidpipe member and having wall means defining a lateral orifice thereinprovided with threading engaged with said external threads of saidtubular member;

(d) a fixed co-axial outer member having an orifice providing connectionbetween said tubular member and an exterior fluid supply; and

(e) sealing means between said outer member and said sleeve; saidcombination of pipe member, tu-

3 4 bular member and sleee being rotatable within said 2,772,897 12/1956 Shaw et a1. 285190 outer member. 2,985,468 5/1961 Shaw et a1.285-321 X 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the sealing means 3,191,9746/1965 Mann et a1. 285-321 X includes compression and packing means heldin position 3,301,581 1/ 1967 Winberg 285-404 X by perforated end capsattachable to said outer member. 5

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner References Cited D. W. AROLA,Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,078,952 11/1913 Prellwitz285-490 x 1,446,789 2/1923 Dodd 2s5- 3o3X 10 348 2,393,835 1/1946Stevenson 285-190 X 2,481,931 9/ 1949 Kester.

